The Mosquito
by Envy - The Covetous One
Summary: Having just barely survived the attack she endured from Saitama, the mutant, bloodsucking creature known only as the 'Mosquito Girl' awakens in a crater, heavily injured but alive. Entering a state of hibernation and awakening fully healed several months later, she finds out that much has changed in the world while she was gone, and discovers that she may have to evolve as well.
1. Chapter 1: Stillness

Stillness.

Stillness was the first thing she felt as she awoke to the sight of looking up into the blue, cloud-littered sky. What she experienced next was a horrendous pain that started to wrack her entire body. She wanted nothing more than to grit her teeth with sheer anguish, except her jaw, and most of the left side of her face, felt agonizingly contorted and... _broken_. Stretching her tongue out to at least her lips, she lapped up a sour liquid leaking from the side of her mouth that she quickly realized was blood. Normally she would be fine with tasting the stuff, but this blood was her _own_ blood.

She was a half-mosquito, half-human mutant created by a man named Dr. Genus in a location known as the 'House of Evolution', and she knew that she had failed the mission she was assigned by her creator. Her mind felt blurry and distorted, but it soon began to remember back to how she got here, or, at the very least what her last thoughts were before she awoke in this strange place.

That blonde-haired cyborg-guy was the powerful, but ultimately unworthy opponent she was facing at her full, blood-bloated power, and she herself was zipping toward him through the air with speed to rival a bolt of lightning. She was about to put an end to his annoying existence with a gleeful, if not somewhat crazed smile painted on her face. She was about to win the day for Dr. Genus, as ordered.

Then a monstrous blow of some kind, one she didn't see nor notice was coming her way, hit her. And all had gone black.

 _Oh... why does my entire body hurt?_ she thought to herself sorely, before letting out a loud, lolling moan that broke the peaceful silence surrounding her. More feeling began to return to her, and with it came not only more pain, but some strength as well. Using what little energy she had to lift her damaged head, the Mosquito Girl managed to look around to discover what sort of surroundings there were to blanket her view, and saw she was sitting at the bottom of a large crater that stretched fairly wide. At the edges of the crater's circling top sat some trees with greenish leaves covering their branches, telling the unfortunate creature that she was probably in a forest somewhere. It was only when she looked down to her own self that her bloodshot eyes widened tremendously in pure shock.

Her entire, mostly-exoskeletal body, starting at the mid-stomach, was gone. Ripped straight off, and nowhere in sight. The force of the blow that struck her, whatever it was, must have been powerful enough to have rent her in two. Her legs, long and deadly in their own right, along with her blood-storing abdomen, had vanished. She tried to move her arms, but when her eyes shifted to the left and right, only then did she discover that those were gone as well, leaving shortened stumps in their wake.

The Mosquito Girl, limbless and helpless, simply sat there with only the moist soil and earth she lied upon, and the agony that burned throughout her body for company. She thought about screaming, if only to let the world know of her torment, but the genetically-induced instincts that rested within the deepest recesses of her mind told her how pointless of an action that would be, and she remained quiet. She knew she was far too weak to attempt and regenerate such a massive portion of her body, having spent most of her energy in that fight with the cyborg, and when she tried using her ailing mind to call out to any mosquitoes that had a chance of being within the immediate vicinity, of which to command to bring her fresh, rejuvenating blood, none heeded her, which could only mean she was too feeble to manage even that.

 _How utterly shameful..._ she thought to herself with a saddened sigh, the fullness of her predicament set upon her like a pack of hounds. _Dr. Genus thought so highly of me. And I've... failed him! I've failed him, I'm broken in the middle of a place I do not know of, and I'm so very, very hungry. But... there is_ one _thing I can do..._

Mustering all the power within her weakened body that she could, and with an audible grunt, the Mosquito Girl managed to just roll herself over until she was off of her back, and on her chest. Pointing her head to the dirt with the small, black, retracted proboscis sticking from her forehead and in between the extra pair of compound eyes sitting there as well, it started to expand and stick into the ground. Like a digging tool, the appendage began to stab, push and shovel bits of dirt aside with every motion from her cranium until a person-sized hole had begun to take shape a few minutes later. From there, the mosquito girl began to inch her white-and-black body into it headfirst, and dug further until she knew she was at least a dozen feet below the earth.

She was going to enter an unmoving state of body and mind that would fully heal her with time, but would render her catatonic in the duration it took at well. She remembered Genus mentioning something about how he added such an ability to her just in case she sustained a near-mortal injury, and while she didn't pay that much attention to his complex words beforehand, it now appeared as though it would serve her well.

She allowed her animalistic instincts to take over from here, and what was left of her fragile form began to sift around for a comfortable spot in the deep, compact hole she was in. And once she was all set, just before entering her hibernation, before falling into the comatose state that would return her to full health, and before her eyelids closed a final time, her last sentient thoughts turned toward that wretched cyborg she was once meager moments away from destroying.

 _When I awaken, I'll finish the job, and redeem myself in the Doctor's eyes._ A wicked grin managed to form itself on her shattered jaws, and she let out a small, girlish laugh. _Hopefully, it will be soon... it will be soon... soon... soon..._

And then, with a final burst of breath, the Mosquito Girl went still as darkness overtook her.


	2. Chapter 2: Emergence

_As the bell loudly rang from the school, signalling to any who heard it that the day was at an end, small snowflakes fell from the sky and landed on the snow that already sat on the ground in a light blanket. In the parking lot of the school were a great many cars, and inside one of them were two occupants; both a married pair of parents._

 _The father; a rather well-built man with black hair and a pair of circular glasses over his nose, and the mother; an attractively thin woman with short, curly brown hair and wearing an easy expression as she fluffed out the small jacket covering her crimson dress, were both waiting patiently as they watched a great many children - students of the school - leave to the buses or rush to their own parents' cars._

 _The type of smooth, dark-colored vehicle this couple had, not to mention the fine kind of clothing they both wore would tell anyone that these two were quite wealthy individuals. The mother had her window down, allowing the cool winter air to come in, not bothering either of them in the least._

 _"Where is she..." the mother tsked, turning from the passenger window to her husband with a bothered mien about her. "She's never usually this late. I just hope she hasn't been held over for some trivial reason by the principle again..."_

 _"Don't worry! I'm coming, I'm coming!" a young voice suddenly called out, apparently in reply. Both parents turned their eyes back to the passenger window, and watched with large, individual smiles as their seven-year-old daughter came bounding toward them through the light snow, leaving sneaker-shaped tracks in it wherever her feet impacted against the ground. She was dressed in an equally small, fine coat of a light pink color, with fur standing out from the inside of it. There was a large grin of glee and excitement on her face as she opened the car door and hopped inside._

 _"How was your day, dear?" the father asked pleasantly._

 _"Just great!" the daughter replied as she started to get comfy, pulling the hood down from her coat and brushing back her long, light brown hair back so it could be free again at last. Her gray eyes, always with a typical childlike energy to them, blinked rapidly after she rubbed her hands over them and adjusted to the change of light pitch in the vehicle when compared to outside. "That test I took in math class went pretty good, I think. When I passed it in, the teacher said my score looked like it was going to be high!"_

 _"Wonderful! That sound's like something deserving of a prize..." the mother sang, turning to the father expectantly, who let out a small chuckle of his own._

 _The daughter's head tilted to the side. "What's that mean?" she wondered aloud, curiously._

 _The father smirked, raising his hand and showing the three rectangular strips of paper he held, each one covered in advanced writing of sorts. "Because_ I _got us all tickets to go see the movies," he smirked._

 _"R-really? Oh boy! Yay!" the young daughter cried out with joy, nearly jumping from her seat to the front of the car in her haste to hug each of her parents. They both let out warm laughter as they embraced their beloved child, and once it finally died down, the father started the car with a rumble of its engine. As they left the parking lot, all their daughter did on the way to theater was talk about how excited she was for what show was soon to come._

* * *

The Mosquito Girl's eyes flashed open the absolute second her hibernation came to its sudden conclusion. Instead of yawning like a normal person getting out of bed, she unleashed a mighty gasp as she inhaled her first breaths in an extraordinarily long time. As the numbness in her body was just starting to subside, her instincts told her to go up, and she began to do just that. Taking her newly-reformed arms and legs out of the fetal position they were cast in, her claws began to dig and scrape against the dirt until she burst straight from the ground moments later, like a demented parody of a flower.

The first thing that the mutant half-human creature saw upon reaching the surface was the sun shining from the blue sky above, blinding her until she took her eyes off of it, and looked at what was around her instead. Green grass, as she could see, had grown in and around the crater she was still a part of, informing her that a long bit of time truly had passed her by while she was in her deathlike state of body and mind.

The first thing the Mosquito Girl realized upon finishing her sightseeing was that her limbs and joints all felt as stiff as she had ever felt them in her short life. Stretching her insectoid forelimbs out, she folded them together, reached behind her back, moved the pairs of long, finger-esque tarsal claws adorning their ends, and generally pulled and flexed her arms around until they felt as lively as she remembered they were, before doing a similar form of exercise with her long legs and back.

"Ahh... that's _much_ better," she chuckled with a smirk a few minutes later, very pleased that everything that was once distorted or crushed was now mended back to healthy perfection. Letting out a tuneful hum and flittering the transparent wings sticking from her back briefly, she looked up to the sky and decided what it was she wanted to do next.

"Oh, my little ones..." she called out, sensing the presence of a great many mosquitoes within her controlling distance with a twitch of one of her antenna. "Bring me something good to eat. Bring me something red, and sticky, and _nutritious_. Bring me something that will fill me up..."

On her command, the tiny insects she enthralled did as they were ordered without a shred of objection. Grouping together, they scoured much of the land for viable creatures, and the great majority of what they found and drained the life out of _en masse_ were deer, birds, bears, and an assortment of small mammals. The creatures tried in vain to run for their lives as they noticed what was beginning to transpire to them, but the swarm quickly overwhelmed and quashed any attempt to flee under their ceaseless droning. A few minutes later, having individually collected enough blood, a dark, rumbling cloud began to fill and darken the sky just above where the Mosquito Girl stood waiting, and she welcomed the approaching horde of minuscule bodies with opened arms, soon becoming engulfed in them.

Circling rapidly, they all emptied their freshly-gained ichor into her, and she took in the pleasurably filling liquid with a delighted chuckle and a lick of her lips. Once the transfer was fully completed, the swarm soon parted and the Mosquito Girl stood alone; the only difference in her appearance being that the abdomen sticking out from the lower portion of her back was now a little larger than it was previously.

With a satisfied sigh, she rubbed her long, insectile foreclaws over her renewed, restrengthened, youthful, voluptuous body, and through the short silver-white hair that hung from the sides and back of her head. Opening her gray eyes, she stared at the thousands of insects flying above with a thankful expression.

"Thank you for the delicious meal, my little ones. That should be all that I need from you for now," she smiled, allowing the droning cloud to disperse until the sky was blue and barren once again. With a buzz, her own wings began to vibrate until they were a blur on her back, and she took off like a bullet into the sky. Once she was far above the earth, she looked down at the far-reaching forest below, before looking straight toward the horizon again as a simple, but effective plan was formulated in her head.

In every one of his more sentient creations, Genus saw fit to imbue them with an 'internal compass' of sorts that would allow them to find their creator with relative ease. Just by looking around, she instinctively knew what direction she had to take to find him. Gazing westward, she could sense that he was somewhere in that direction, and having decided to find him before making a foolish mistake on her own, the Mosquito Girl quickly zipped off through the air, hoping with all her heart that she hadn't completely disappointed the brilliant scientist who was her maker.

* * *

Genos barely moved in his seat as he stared at the television screen for any news concerning a coming major disaster. While the newscasters went on with their speeches and reports about the weather or current events, his facial features were stony, stern and focused, as they usually were. As he continued to watch the t.v., out of the corner of his unblinking, cybernetic eye, he spotted a familiar face peeking around the kitchen corner.

"Hey, Genos. I think we're out of bread, and radishes, and a few other things too," his master, Saitama, said as he scratched his smooth, bald head; the light above it reflecting off of it like a dull mirror. "I guess it's time to go shopping again."

The hero's cyborg roommate shifted a glance from the television to the full shape of his teacher, who was wearing a common, buttoned, plain-yellow t-shirt and brown shorts - vastly different from the caped costume he put on when out and actively fighting crime. "Would you like me to go out and get groceries?" he inquired.

"I think I'll go do it today," was Saitama's swift, but easy reply. "It'll give me something to do while you look for anything that might... um... 'spurn the notion of peace, and force us to bring out our valorous rebuttal of justice'."

Genos nodded his head obediently and turned to the screen. Just as Saitama grabbed his jingling coin purse, walked a short distance to the side to put on his sandals and head out the door, Genos quickly looked back him again as another thought crossed his mind. "Before you leave Master, what do you think you'll want to do for dinner tonight?" he asked. "I can make something when you get back, or we can go out to eat."

Saitama put a finger to his chin, and looked up toward the ceiling as he dwelled on the well-placed comment for a moment. "I was actually thinking we go out and get some udon noodles tonight."

Genos looked agreeable with the plan, and grunted in approval. "Very well, Master. I shall be ready to go when you are."

"Okay," he responded, before giving a short wave to his disciple with his hand as he went for the door. "See you soon, Genos!"

"I will see you as well, Master," the cyborg managed to grin slightly, before his expression tensed up once more as the door to the apartment clicked shut. Saitama walked down the stairs, exited through the front door of the apartment, then began to pace along the sidewalk that connected to it, and would eventually lead him to the grocery store he liked to frequent the most when his food supply was running low.

Things had been quiet for most of the week in Z-City. No giant monsters had yet invaded, no subterranean beasts had burst forth to cause untold property damage, and even the number of robbers and purse-snatchers appeared to be at a near-record minimum - according to the news, anyway. Today seemed no different so far, but having lived here in this district of the city long enough, Saitama always knew that his newest foe could be standing around the next corner, and he deeply hoped so, too. Though whatever mysterious being, evil robot, or vile person had the chance of appearing most likely wouldn't be the worthy foe he had been hoping to meet for some time, it had the potential to at least break up the boredom that had been plaguing him.

Looking ahead and with a small, but happy grin on his simple face, Saitama continued forward at a mild pace, already tasting those udon noodles in his mind.

* * *

"And here is your order, miss," the former doctor and leader of the House of Evolution, I. Genus, said to his customer as he handed her a small, steaming platter of takoyaki from behind the counter of his takoyaki shop. Taking in the delectable smell of the seasoned, ball-shaped, meat-filled food, the young woman thanked him for the paid meal and left with it out the shop's door.

With that appearing to be the last customer, Genus took his red, grease-stained apron off of his waist, walked to the entrance and prepared to close the place down for a brief lunch break. He looked out into the street of the busy city, and casually examined the occasional citizen to pass by. As he resolved to do, he had changed much in personality and nature since when he encountered that bald, caped hero and his mechanical associate. Brushing his low-hanging front hair back, he flipped the sign on the building's window to 'CLOSED'.

As he was walking back into the place, a loud scream from a passerby suddenly sounded from somewhere behind him, causing him to stop in his current step. The former scientist spun his head back around in reaction, and soon found his surprised view looking up to the sky as a dark, thin, vaguely humanoid shape descended from it with a shrill, buzzing beating of insectoid wings.

" _Dr. Genus!_ " a perky, loud, and clearly female voice shouted, originating from the somewhat feminine silhouette. Genus stood his ground the moment the noise graced his ears, and from behind his clear glasses, his eyes widened in shock and realization of who, and _what_ , this being was.

"It was easy to find you, Doctor, but it seems very strange that you're not where the House of Evolution is," the voice continued, just before the much taller shape landed in front of him with a solid thump of chitin-on-concrete. Now in his full view, Genus could now see that his suspicions as to whom this individual was were proven correct.

"Mosquito Girl," he calmly said, fixing his glasses with one of his hands as he fearlessly stared up into her face. "You are alive. This is... unexpected."

Mosquito Girl exhaled a breath of air dejectedly, and lowered her head. "I am so very sorry that I was defeated in battle Doctor, but I've spent a lot of time regenerating my damaged body and strength since then," she apologized. Her features suddenly brightened up, and she cast a curious look at her maker. "Um... do you know how long I've been gone for?"

Genus quickly and roughly recounted the time that had passed between the last time he saw prototype creation, and now. "Seven-and-a-half months," was his answer.

"Oh, phooey. It's all because I was about to slice open an annoying cyborg-guy like a tin can, when a powerful force of some sort struck me." She rolled her eyes to the side and twirled one of the two claws on her left hand through the short, colorless hair on her head as she went on explaining and recounting her tale like a young child talking to its parent over a bout that had happened with a bully. "Next thing I knew, I was stuck in a crater, clinging to life. I don't know who did it, but now I'm here Doctor, and I'll make sure I get whoever did that to me, as well as finish off that cyborg!"

"I know who defeated you, but revenge is not important," Genus spoke monotonously, pushing his slipping glasses further up the bridge of his nose.

Mosquito Girl's vigor at pleasing her master was lost as soon as it appeared, and her brow lowered in confusion at his words. "What do you mean by that? Is the cyborg and the thing that beat me dead or something?"

Genus closed his eyes and placed his hand over his mouth, thinking of a way to process this kind of information to her. "No, They're not. I'll explain everything you need to know, but first you should follow me inside before someone decides to contact a hero. I do not think that the people of this city will take the sight of you lightly."

With that, the doctor turned around and calmly walked back into the takoyaki shop, leaving the Mosquito Girl by herself where she still stood. His words were quite vexing, but she could see the sense in them, and stared back around at the many hundreds of buildings that littered the landscape. With a shrug, she quickly walked inside in pursuit of her master.

* * *

 **Author's notes:** Thanks for all the favorites and follows so far. Reviews are deeply appreciated, so I may know what needs fixing and improving on. Stay tuned for more!


	3. Chapter 3: Catching Up

Armored Gorilla brought a small plate bearing two filled cups of tea on top of it to the small table in the back room of the takoyaki stand, currently being used by his master and Mosquito Girl, both of whom were sitting in individual chairs. Once, most of his bulky, apish frame for which he was named was made of and encased in a suit of thick, cybernetic armor, but these days he simply wore a body that simulated a normal gorilla's natural appearance; save for the few, metal, tube-like protrusions expanding from his neck. Gently putting the platter down in between them, he stared at the fellow mutant with a troubled glare, before nodding to them both and stepping back a few feet so he could observe the coming conversation, which Mosquito Girl proceeded to start.

"So... why the odd choice of places to be at?" was her first question, as she again took a gander at the small building she was in. "Are you hiding from someone? Is this a secret base you're currently using to conduct more experiments?"

"No, it is not," he said back. "I'm finished with all of that. The House of Evolution is no more to me."

Mosquito Girl's eyelids fluttered open, before drooping in a disbelieving way. "What?" she finally spoke, flatly.

"The House of Evolution is no more," Genus repeated. "I've seen the 'error of my ways' so to speak, and have mended them accordingly. I sell takoyaki now, and I use the bounty of my intellect to provide an endless supply of ingredients. I have a genetically-engineered, tentacle-regenerating octopus in the back room that I use for the meat, for example."

She looked unconvinced, and scratched the edge of the table with a claw, shaving a few paper-thin woodchips from it. "Is this a test of some sort?" she chuckled girlishly. "It's a test, isn't it? To see if I'm still loyal to you? To see if I still behave with your orders alone?"

"No, it is _not._ " His words were hard and serious. Finally seeing the truth in his eyes with the change of his pitch, Mosquito Girl's composure morphed dramatically in a single instant. "Y-you really mean..." she started to stutter, grasping the magnitude of the situation like a drowning man with straws.

"Any destructive use I have for you is at an end, yes," Genus answered for her in a sigh. "I want you to commit acts of violence in my name or in general no longer. The cyborg and the bald, caped man who defeated you also defeated me and my strongest creations in one fell swoop not long after, and I've seen things in a different light since then."

As she heard the description of who she now knew was the one who nearly ended her life, her shocked countenance mollified into one of dull fury. "So a bald, caped man was the one who almost destroyed me?" she asked under gritted teeth, an ugly, toothy grin stretching from one end of her white-tinted face to the other. "Heheh. He must have used quite the sneak attack on me to just send me rocketing away in one hit."

"He is no ordinary man, Mosquito Girl. He is a hero with unparalleled strength. Enough strength to crush all of his foes with but a single sweep of his fist, as he did to you," Genus explained. "And his strength didn't come from genetic manipulation, enhancive super drugs, or even random mutation. I've learned how he _trained_ to be the way he was, and it has changed the way I see things forever. I've decided to move away from achieving what I once thought could be human perfection - something truly meaningless to obtain - and now I only want to put my efforts into helping society."

Things went silent between the three for a good while following the man's speech to his youngest creation. Mosquito Girl looked like she was stewing on his message intensely, when Genus spoke again. "You should take a drink of your tea, before it cools off," he mentioned.

Her mind turning to the brown liquid in the small cup below, she eyed the drink cautiously. "I can... ingest human foods?" she inquired, looking back to him.

"Yes, of course," Genus replied, lifting his own cup to his lips and taking a long sip from it. "There are still enough human genetic traits within you to do so, and you'll absorb the nutrition from all normal food without any ill effects. You won't gain any additional power from it as you can with the blood you consume, but your enhanced metabolism will still require at least some of that as well."

Mosquito Girl looked back at the drink with an untrustworthy and distasteful glance, before wrapping a hook-shaped claw around the cup's handle. Bringing it up to her face, she inhaled the vaporous smell it gave off with a quick sniff of her nose, and upon deciding that it was indeed safe, took a small sip from it. Her tightening facial features and small smile told Genus and Armored Gorilla that she seemed to like it enough.

After she had her fill and put the half-full cup back down, Genus went on with the point he wished to make. "While I may no longer have responsibility over what your actions will be from now on, would you like to do as Armored Gorilla did, and stay here with me? You will still have work to do, I can keep you safe, and-"

"No."

From where he stood, Armored Gorilla's eyes widened slightly in surprise, while the former scientist-turned takoyaki seller looked mostly indifferent, but no less intrigued by her decision. "And why is that?" he asked calmly.

Mosquito Girl looked to the gray walls of the room, was silent for a good few seconds, and caressed the long, thick, braid-like pair of antenna that fell from either side of the front of her head with her claws before replying. "I don't know. You say that... I have my own word to follow now. It sounds like it'll be kind of... _fun_ to go by my own rules. To do as _I_ say from now on. And I have a feeling it will be infinitely more interesting than selling something like _takoyaki_ for the rest of my life."

"But you must constantly be wary of those who wish to find out who you are, and to successfully adapt and survive, you will not be able to view humans as prey anymore. Unless you want to be taken down by a hero, you must become _more human_ ," Armored Gorilla commented in a monotonous, but caring fashion, clenching one of his fists for emphasis. "And in doing so, you would have to find other ways of obtaining food on your own, and the right amount of blood to keep you healthy. If I may be honest, your recorded recklessness and lust for performing violent activities will hinder you greatly."

Mosquito Girl's wings flittered on her back briefly in annoyance, and her expression did not look very amused by the talking, robotic simian's words. She eventually lost the bland face when she turned back to Genus. "If that's the case, then where's the best place someone like I can start with my new, little uh... 'normal life'? There are so many cities, and I don't really know which is which or what's what."

Genus folded his fingers into a tent over the table, and thought deeply for a moment. "If I were you, I would start in Z-City," he told her. "There are many job openings for minor forms of business in that particular city due to the frequent monster attacks, and the rent for the apartments in the residential and lower district are cheap and affordable for just about anyone. If you want a good place, one you'll have the fairest chance of fitting into, begin there."

Mosquito Girl looked quite perplexed at his suggestion. "Isn't Z-City where you wanted me to attack when you first sent me out?" she inquired. "That's exactly where I ran into the blonde cyborg."

"Yes, that is true, but the people there are not as numerous, especially in the aforementioned lower district. The fewer people that are around, the lesser the chance you'll be found out," Genus responded. "Your natural ability to do so will come in quite handy, so long as you keep your instincts and bloodlust in check. That is the one thing I'm afraid that you'll fail to accomplish."

The half-human, half-mosquito mutant laughed aloud with much enthusiasm, before allowing it to die down to a small titter. "Oh please, Dr. Genus. I may get a thrill from being in situations involving the need to put my claws to good use, but I can control it."

"And you're sure of this?" Armored Gorilla asked for his master, almost skeptically. Mosquito Girl smiled a smile that revealed her pointed canines.

"Absolutely," she said. "And even if my identity is discovered and a hero tries to kill me, I'm sure I'll be able to _tear them to itty-bitty ribbons before they can so much as lay a hand on me!_ " she smiled wickedly, brandishing her claws in the visible sunlight shining in from the window.

Genus and Armored Gorilla both sighed together and pinched the bridge between their eyes in mutual doubt.

* * *

The (visibly off-duty) hero, Saitama, casually strolled around the small grocery store as he shopped. His plastic bag swung back-and-forth in the air as he held onto it, stopping only when he saw a fruit, meat, or vegetable that caught his eye, and if it turned out to be something he wanted, he tossed it into the bag without a second thought.

This activity continued for the next hour, and after approaching and paying for what he wanted at a cash register, exited the store in a slow walk. Silently lamenting on how uneventful the day was rapidly becoming, he hadn't made it more than five feet from the store when a peculiar noise went out. It was like someone was hitting a steel club against a sheet of metal.

"Huh. What's that sound?" he asked himself, looking in every direction along with several other confused civilians until he finally sound the source of the disturbance standing a few dozen meters away.

The banging sound was coming from the trailer of a nearby eighteen-wheeler truck that was parked next to the store's receiving area. The logo on its side, representing a cheerful-looking shrimp or lobster of some sort, told anyone that it belonged to a seafood company.

With a final bang, and a bursting noise of twisting metal, the entire side of the truck seemed to explode and peel apart like a tin can. Showering out from it, like water from a spilled bucket, came a seething, wriggling, mindless mass of what Saitama quickly realized were freshly-caught shrimp the trailer once contained. Then, like a rock on which the surf of small, crustaceous bodies fell from, a lone shape stood among their smaller, writhing forms. A shape that bore the appearance of a giant, reddish, angry-looking lobster.

"BEHOLD, THE SPLENDOR AND TERROR THAT IS LORD JUMBO GAMMARUS!" it shouted from its feathery mouth in a throaty, male voice, stumbling before the astonished onlookers and Saitama. Like whips, its long, coiling antennas thrashed and felt around on the ground in front of it. Sitting on what could only be described as its 'head', just in between its eyestalks and above its long, pointy, nose-like rostrum, was a small crown made of coral that had been grown into shape. Without pause, the monster continued its tirade.

"I am the lord protector off all lobster, shrimp, krill and prawns!" the creature shrieked, as though in a desperate attempt to gain some form of attention from the people lining the sidewalk, its multiple sharp-tipped legs making a vivid _tappity-tap_ noise as they slowly went on romping about the city street. "I am the vengeance that has come for humanity! Long have your pitifully wretched kind tormented mine for vile reasons! Needlessly brutal oil spills that have ruined our habitat! Fisherman that have hunted us relentlessly! We've had to deal with things like whales and basking sharks before you lot came along, but no more! Now I am here, and now I shall rain down the wrath of a trillion fallen crustaceans!"

Its long eyestalks and the bulging, black spheres attached to their tips looked around quickly for its first victim, and like a moth to a flame, noticed a shining shape standing nearby. When the human came into full view, he could see the sharp brightness was originating from his bald head.

He snapped his the larger of his two reddish-brown claws in the air in a menacing way as he walked up to Saitama's indifferent figure, preparing to bring the massive limb down upon him. "And you, little man whose head reminds me of a glimmering pearl, shall be the first to feel my _CRUSHING CLAW!_ "

* * *

All-in-all, today truly was going rather well, Saitama thought with a hum, as he hauled the a fresh, oversized lobster over his shoulder with one hand, whilst the other held onto his grocery bag. While all of its limbs were mostly intact, the creature's cranium and most of its upper body in general had been decimated by the scarcely-swung fist of his. But that was fine for the hero, considering that in the few times he's had lobster, those parts were the ones he never ate.

As he continued his walk back to the apartment, the metal sound of a rolling bicycle's wheels went out, and he raised his head from the brittle asphalt he spent his time staring at below. Pedaling away on the rapidly-approaching bicycle was a familiar individual wearing a set of light armor, a green helmet, and a pair of dark goggles over his eyes.

"Oh, hey, Mumen Rider," Saitama greeted with a cheerful smile when he was within hearing range. Stopping with a screech of the breaks, and kicking out the bicycle's stand, Mumen Rider acknowledged him.

"Greetings, Saitama," he responded speedily. "I heard there was a creature spotted in this section of the city's market area. Disaster level wolf, and it may become tiger. Have you heard anything abou-"

It was at that moment that he finally caught sight of the large, lifeless cadaver his fellow hero was holding. "Is that...?" he began to ask, pointing a gloved finger at it.

"Some creature that called himself the 'Prawn King' or something," was what Saitama shrugged, hoisting the thing onto a better part of his shoulder. "Sorry if I beat you to him, but he was standing right in front of me."

Mumen Rider couldn't help but lower his head and chuckle for a moment. "Perfectly fine by me, so long as nobody got hurt."

"No one did," Saitama confirmed.

"Then you have my gratitude," the rider of the Bicycle of Justice spoke with a nod of thanks. Kicking the stand back, he gave a small salute. "I would love to spend some time to catch up more my friend, but my thirst for Justice never rests, and I still have an entire city to scour. See you another time, Saitama."

He was about to leave as Saitama waved back, and the cape-less baldy looked at the License-less Rider as he quickly rode off with a squeak of his bike's pedals. Once he was out of sight, he turned around and continued with his journey back home.


	4. Chapter 4: A New Start

The streets outside of the takoyaki shop were devoid of life when the Mosquito Girl, Genus, and Armored Gorilla exited from its front door. The Mosquito Girl stroked one of the long antennae drooping from her head with her claws when she eventually stopped and looked Genus' way in preparation to say goodbye. Little did she know that the former Doctor had a gift to impart onto her first.

"Here," he spoke, extending his hand to her with something in it, which she hesitantly took. What the Mosquito Girl accepted from him was a purse that, once the she had a quick peek inside and saw, was filled with clinking money. "This will get you by until you find your own methods of accruing more."

"I... Thank you, Doctor," graciously said the Mosquito Girl, bowing her head in utmost gratitude for this. "I will indeed use this wisely."

Genus sighed silently as he heard her words. "I'm afraid to admit it, but I have my doubts as to whether or not you'll succeed on your own," he responded, using his index finger to shift his glasses higher onto the bridge of his nose. To this, the insectile mutant only grinned.

"Doubts, doubts, doubts," she giggled childishly with a wave of her free hand. "I'll prove to you that I can care for myself, I just know it."

With a smug expression painted upon her face, she turned her body about and started to walk off a short ways. Before flying into the air, she looked over her shoulder and gave a small wave to her creator. "See you later, Doctor Genus. And see you later too, Armored Gorilla!"

Leaping, she flew off into the sky on buzzing wings. As Genus witnessed the mutant fade away into the horizon, he put his hands in his pockets and started walking inside the takoyaki shop. Armored Gorilla stared up at the sky for a few seconds longer before joining his creator and closing the door behind him. He wandered inside a small ways before finding Genus back where he once had his conversation with his youthful creation, now pouring himself some more tea.

"Doctor Genus, was allowing the Mosquito Girl to depart a wise decision?" he could not help but inquire. "I fear what might become of this greatly."

Genus took a small sip of the tea and placed the cup down. "I admit, there is plenty of reason we both should worry," he soon replied. "Even as a prototype creation, her mental state has never been too stable. Like Carnage Kabuto, she may be powerful, but her mind is simply... _disturbed_. It seems to be a running theme with those I decide to cross human and insect DNA with."

"I _was_ there during her creation," the half-machine, half-ape commented with a sigh. "Her mind was very much disturbed even before she became what she is now."

"Yes, I suppose so," agreed Genus again. "But that means you should also remember what else she possesses in abundance. _Tenacity_. Tenacity in following a given order to the best of her ability, and with what her new direction has become, she now has a new goal to fulfill. A simple, albeit long-lasting goal. Only time will tell where her path ultimately leads her, my friend."

"Time, _and_ hope," Armored Gorilla commented in a low voice as he wrapped his white hachimaki once more his head, preparing to help his master clean the closed shop up and prepare it for tomorrow.

"Time and hope," repeated Genus with a smile, taking another sip of tea from his cup.

* * *

Deciding to make good on their previous plans, Saitama and Genos went to a restaurant in town. It was one they visited many times before, and a good one at that. They went in as casually as an unremarkable-looking bald man with an intimidating cyborg by his side could be seen as, ordered some noodles, and picked a table to sit in.

The food came in a short time. During the wait, Saitama spent most of it tapping his fingers lightly against the wood on his side of the table with the other arm resting its elbow on its surface and cradling his chin. Genos, ever the patient student, watched his master with extreme focus shining in his golden eyes and arms on his lap. Their orders were presented to them, piping hot, after a few more calm and uneventful minutes.

Things were quiet between the two as they began eating the delectable bowlfulls of noodles, and that didn't count for the sounds of slurping that came with it. When Saitama was about to devour one of the last bites of his meal with his fork, he came to a sudden pause. Slowly, Saitama lifted his head from the bowl with a querying hum and a raised brow. Genos saw this right off and stopped as well.

"Does something bother you, Master?" he asked, noticing the shift in his teacher's expression.

"Oh? Oh, no. Nothing," Saitama replied, looking back to him. "I just... thought I heard a mosquito buzzing in my ear."

He took his pinkie and rubbed it around in his left ear for a few seconds before refocusing back onto his noodles. "Huh," he eventually said after realizing no such bug was orbiting his head; unfond memories returning to him of one such incident involving the dreadfully bothersome species of insect. "I could've sworn I heard one..."

"Perhaps it was a trick being played on your ears?" suggested Genos.

"Maybe. I don't know..." he shrugged in return. "Words can't describe how much I hate mosquitoes..."

Genos thought of one such word right off. "Is one reason why because they 'suck'?"

As he heard this, Saitama failed to hide a small snigger from his compatriot's pun. "Yeah, that might be, Genos."

* * *

As the setting sun started to vanish over the horizon, a lone shape flew from the sky and entered one of the lower districts of Z-City. The silhouette, belonging to the Mosquito Girl, moved as swiftly and stealthily through the air as she could, as to avoid detection by anyone. She flew until she came upon a set of buildings where a series of clotheslines, filled with all manners of attire being dried in the dying light, hung between them.

Zipping by at a speed faster than most eyes could properly catch, she snatched several pieces of clothing from the lines, straight from their pins. With them in claw, Mosquito Girl flew into a nearby, desolate alleyway and threw what she caught into a pile on the ground before her. Humming a little tune to herself, she started to look over her catch in earnest, and knew right off that nothing of this common size would fit, much less help conceal her true identity.

So, the Mosquito Girl chose to improvise.

She had only ever done what she was about to do as part of a few tests Genus conducted on her before setting her loose to reek havoc all that time ago, but she remembered how to perform it still. Who knew, she thought to herself with glee, that this skill would actually come in handy for something. Deciding to begin with her right arm, she lifted it and looked at it.

With a grunt, she started the process. As the limb contorted, shrinking and shortening to a sickening cracking noise of bending chitin, the Mosquito Girl herself wore a visage of simple, mild discomfort. As the process finished roughly three minutes later, a very big change had taken place in her formerly long forelimb. It was about that size of a normal human's forearm now, but still looked very inhuman with its chitinous features. The most noticeable thing that had not changed was the fact that she still only had two claws sitting at its end, and not even finger-shaped ones.

She did not despair, and easily went and sifted through her pile of clothes. Pulling out a brown leather glove from it, she snugly put it over her 'hand'. It fit well enough, and when that was done with, she did the same with her other arm. It soon matched the first one in appearance, and she quickly found and put on the other, matching glove.

For the piece she would wear over the main portion of her body (for now), the Mosquito Girl discovered a thin, hooded sweatshirt of a dull crimson coloration. There was no way such a thing would fit over her the formation of natural armor that was her head, so she knew that that also had to be changed. The parts of her exoskeleton lining along her crown - the insectoid, compound eyes that gave her superhuman perception, the chitin surrounding it, and even the needle-esque proboscis on its fore - eventually flattened against her skull nice and neatly with but a thought and a dose of willpower to keep it down. Brushing the two thick, drooping antennae dangling from her temples to her shoulders and smiling merrily to herself now that the ordeal was over, she began placing the sweatshirt over her body. After a few seconds of worming herself blindly into it, she successfully fit herself in. She breathed a large sigh when her head and arms poked through the proper holes, and then swiftly lifted the hood over her cranium to make sure none would see her for what she really was. When that was set, she began lifting the long, thin abdomen sitting on her stern until it disappeared within the folds of the sweatshirt and laid flat and compressed against her back, over her wings.

Next came the matter of what would be put on over the lower portion of her body. Eventually, and after a few grunts of effort, she was able to contort her greatly-longer legs and the claws resting at their base to a more 'appropriate' size and put on a set of jeans, and then a pair of high-reaching boots. When the final, needed piece of clothing was over her body, Mosquito Girl felt set to enter public eye, and was hasty to straighten her attire out a final time with the reflection provided by a nearby puddle for help. Her legs were still quite lengthy and gave her a very tall and slender, if not less than sylphlike stature, but other than that she looked like a mostly normal individual.

Finally pocketing the purse of money Genus previously gave her, the Mosquito Girl wobbly left the alley and stepped out into the sidewalk. It took a few more seconds of moving around, but she quickly adapted to the voluntary, if not temporary change in her body, and was soon walking as normally as most other humans would. A few more meager moments passed when she came across her first human. He was an old-looking man with graying hair and casual wear over his plump body, and walking ahead of him on a thin blue leash was a small dog with loose and baggy skin covering its black and brown form. Rubbing her gloved hands together with anticipation, the Mosquito Girl purposefully got close to the shorter man as she passed him by.

"Wonderful... weather today, yes?" she asked with an extremely wide grin aimed at him. He looked to her overly-toothy expression with a somewhat startled look of his own, and after a small moment's pause, decided to answer.

"Y-yes, I suppose," he mumbled timidly, before hurriedly walking on with his unperturbed pet. Mosquito Girl observed him walk off before continuing on her own path. As she made her way through Z-City, she thought of what was to come next in her plot.

She already had a plan set out. She would find a place to make her home for now, discover a job in the marketplace area starting tomorrow, and see how things went from there. Genus took the time to mention the apartment complexes of the area she now set off to, but that was among other things. Even after he told her of the trouble she might face in fitting into society, she failed to find worry in it. If anyone were to take the chance to ask her about her inhuman features that she failed to hide, she would simply tell them that they were nothing more than natural physical deformities. That ought to cease any other sort of potential questioning. It seemed easy enough!

It wasn't long before the Mosquito Girl located and approached a suitable complex. The building itself was shorter than some of the others surrounding it, but very wide. A yellow sign was posted on a small billboard sticking from the ground outside, detailing the amount one would have to spend for a month's worth of rent, and the Mosquito Girl deemed it to be worth looking into. Reaching what was clearly the office on the first floor belonging to its main owner, she opened the door and walked in. Inside, near the back of the room and with a sports magazine in his hands, was an older, thin man in a white shirt with a bright yellow vest over it. He looked up when he heard the bell atop his office's door jingle, but that was a sound that came a mere second before the Mosquito Girl greeted him.

"Hello! I would like to procure a room," she said immediately, and with little warning on the issued subject. She took out some of the currency from her purse and presented it in front of the man. "I have the money right here. Are there any available?"

The man stared at what he saw was a most peculiar-mannered woman for almost a full minute while she stood there smiling with enough optimism shining on her chalk-white face to send a shiver down his spine. He looked to her, then the payment she left in a pile at his desk. "Heh. You're in luck," he eventually replied, taking the money and sifting around inside of a drawer nearby until he found the proper key. "We've still got three open for the taking; all on the second floor."

The Mosquito Girl smiled. "In that case, one of them should rightfully be mine."

He gave an affable chuckle. "And it probably will be." They proceeded to talk for a little bit and he handed her the key when they finished. Bowing her head and saying her goodbyes to her new landlord, she exited the room and made her way to the stairs to the second floor. She found the proper room, marked by a door with faded brown paint on its worn surface and displaying the number twenty-four near its top in black, plastic numbers. The disguised mutant decided not to enter it just yet, and instead turned about to .

Jingling the key in her glove-covered claw before pocketing them, she leaned against the railing of the porch-like area in front of all of the doors lining the floor, watching the night sky for who-knows-how-long and thinking toward the future. Everything she knew was going to be different now. Even as she calmly stood there, she felt a twinge of what felt like either excitement or anxiety race through her entire body, and she found herself having a hard time discerning the emotions apart before giving up altogether with a sigh. It was a good time to stop as well, because a voice then cut through the air behind her.

"Hello? I would hate to pry, but are you a tenant here?"

The Mosquito Girl's head slowly turned in the direction of the sound, and her gray eyes were met with the sight of a short old woman approaching her. She looked rather plain, was dressed in a set of fairly modest, knitted clothing, and had pure-white hair tied into a small bun behind her head. Behind her, several feet away, the door to what the Mosquito Girl presumed to be her own room was open. The young mutant was quick to refocus back onto the figure before her.

"Yep!" she cheerily smiled. "Just became one less than an hour ago."

"Then if you're up to it, would you mind telling this elder what your name might be?" the old lady kindly asked next in a curious way, scratching the tip of her long nose with a fingernail as she did so.

The Mosquito Girl found herself in a rush to invent one with that single question. Looking back, she thought of a name she could use, and the first thing that came to mind was a name she heard Genus once utter amidst his experimentation upon her. He said it was of the creature he based her mixed DNA off of. Seeing no other alternative in that one second, she used it.

"Aedes," she replied. "My name is Aedes."

"Ah. That sounds like a name quite different from many I've heard," the old woman smiled, her cane clicking on the ground as she used it to get closer to the railing in front of her. "You must not be from Z-City."

"No, I'm not," admitted the Mosquito Girl. "I'm from... elsewhere."

"So you might be. Well, I'm Beru," the elderly woman said, putting her thin and wrinkled hand out in a friendly way. Mosquito Girl stared at it in an unsure manner for a few seconds, and as she finally relented and took the hand in her own gloved one and shook it gently, she continued. "I believe you'll like living in this apartment. I've been living here for almost seventeen years, and not a single monster, alien, natural disaster or otherwise ever managed to wreck the building. A few close calls here and there, but here it still stands."

"That's a good thing," replied the disguised mutant. "I'm just looking for a nice and firm home, for the time being. It appears as though I've found it."

Beru was quiet for a second once Mosquito Girl finished, until another thought came to her mind. "Before we get too acquainted, my dear, I should have you know, my grandson works as a hero." The words left her mouth with a happy-sounding hum that filled the air with a positive emotion, while the question itself intrigued the Mosquito Girl.

"Hero?" she asked.

"Yes. He's a part of the Hero Association itself. C-Class," she answered. "Low as he might seem on the ladder, you'd best not underestimate him for it. He has one of the best ranks in it. And I'd go prattling on all day just talking about his love for upholding justice in any way he can."

"He sounds..." The Mosquito Girl paused as she searched for the proper word to use. "'Virtuous'."

"Indeed he is. And I should let you know, he visits me a _lot._ Hence why I thought it was important to bring up," chuckled Beru with a shaking finger, who then turned her hunched form to her doorway and started to move back toward it. She halted in her stride after a few seconds in her journey and stared at the door to a room adjacent to it; opposite to that of the Mosquito Girl's. "I only have one other neighbor living right next to me, like you, but the person's a bit too secretive for my liking. I don't even know his or her name. It's been a long time since I've actually had another tenant for a next-door neighbor that I may get a chance to talk to. I hope we get to know each other better, Miss Aedes. Goodnight for now."

"And, um... goodnight to you as well, Mrs. Beru," the Mosquito Girl bid back, waving her fingers in her new neighbor's direction. After Beru closed her door behind her, Mosquito Girl immediately sought to slip into her own room, intending to use its privacy to stretch her limbs and body out to its full length. However, just before she went inside of it, she failed to notice the door from the room Beru mentioned to her a few seconds ago opening just a crack. And looking out from the void that was the interior, was a big round eye.

The eye silently observed the Mosquito Girl enter her abode from two doors away, while the dark figure it belonged to remained hidden within the darkness of its room. "Huh," it spoke to itself in a very light voice a scant few moments later when it knew no one was around to hear it speak to itself; the tone it possessed not sounding quite like one that belonged to either a male, or female individual. "It appears as though we have another neighbor to look out for. Tch, tch, tch..."

* * *

 **Author's notes:** Hello again, friends! It's been a while, but here is another chapter!


End file.
